Pierre Engvall surprisingly carrying Islanders offense with first multi-goal game

RALEIGH, N.C.— When he was sent to the AHL after training camp, Pierre Engvall wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card to be keying the Islanders offense down the stretch of the season. But there Engvall was on Sunday, scoring a pair of goals off the rush in the 6-4 defeat to Carolina. There Engvall has been for the past two weeks, one of the few players to show up night in and night out as the Islanders’ playoff odds have ebbed and flowed with the club’s general lack of consistency. “I don’t know how many games, but it’s been feeling good for some games here,” Engvall said.

“I really enjoy playing with [Hudson] Fasching and [Casey] Cizikas.Working really hard and making plays for everyone out there.

Really easy to read where the puck is going and so on.” Sunday marked the first career multi-goal game for Engvall, whose 63 goals without one were the third-most all time without a multi-goal game in league history. “Obviously it felt good to score.Did it twice,” Engvall said.

“I think our line was working really hard, down there in the offensive zone a lot.That’s good, but we lost the game and we need to get points.” It’s unlikely to change the big-picture calculus on Engvall, whose contract and play alike have been lightning rods for criticism this season.

Nevertheless, the Islanders will be happy to see him finally showing some much-needed consistency. “Been pushing on him and he’s responding really well,” coach Patrick Roy said.“That line’s been playing really well.” Marcus Hogberg allowed four or more goals for a second straight start, making just 24 saves and letting in six goals. Roy made no secret of his unhappiness with the goalie’s play afterward. “A couple saves he could have made, would have been the difference in that game,” Roy said. The Islanders made a couple of lineup tweaks on Sunday, moving Anders Lee to what had previously been Simon Holmstrom’s spot on the first line, with Holmstrom going ...